A Defence Of Nihilism

Author : James Tartaglia,Tracy Llanera
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 78 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2020-12-21
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781000297386

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A Defence of Nihilism by James Tartaglia,Tracy Llanera Pdf

This book offers a philosophical defence of nihilism. The authors argue that the concept of nihilism has been employed pejoratively by almost all philosophers and religious leaders to indicate a widespread cultural crisis of truth, meaning, or morals. Many religious believers think atheism leads to moral chaos (because it leads to nihilism), and atheists typically insist that we can make life meaningful through our own actions (thereby avoiding nihilism). In this way, both sides conflate the cosmic sense of meaning at stake with a social sense of meaning. This book charts a third course between extremist and alarmist views of nihilism. It casts doubt on the assumption that nihilism is something to fear, or a problem which human culture should overcome by way of seeking, discovering, or making meaning. In this way, the authors believe that a revised understanding of nihilism can help remove a significant barrier of misunderstanding between religious believers and atheists. A Defence of Nihilism will be of interest to scholars and students in philosophy, religion, and other disciplines who are interested in questions surrounding the meaning of life.

Author : James Tartaglia
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 233 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2015-12-17
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781474247689

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Philosophy in a Meaningless Life by James Tartaglia Pdf

This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by Knowledge Unlatched. Philosophy in a Meaningless Life provides an account of the nature of philosophy which is rooted in the question of the meaning of life. It makes a powerful and vivid case for believing that this question is neither obscure nor obsolete, but reflects a quintessentially human concern to which other traditional philosophical problems can be readily related; allowing them to be reconnected with natural interest, and providing a diagnosis of the typical lines of opposition across philosophy's debates. James Tartaglia looks at the various ways philosophers have tried to avoid the conclusion that life is meaningless, and in the process have distanced philosophy from the concept of transcendence. Rejecting all of this, Tartaglia embraces nihilism ('we are here with nothing to do'), and uses transcendence both to provide a new solution to the problem of consciousness, and to explain away perplexities about time and universals. He concludes that with more self-awareness, philosophy can attain higher status within a culture increasingly in need of it.

Author : Jacob Stegenga
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 242 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2018
Category : MEDICAL
ISBN : 9780198747048

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Medical Nihilism by Jacob Stegenga Pdf

"Medical nihilism is the view that we should have little confidence in the effectiveness of medical interventions. This book argues that medical nihilism is a compelling view of modern medicine. If we consider the frequency of failed medical interventions, the extent of misleading evidence in medical research, the thin theoretical basis of many interventions, and the malleability of empirical methods in medicine, and if we employ our best inductive framework, then our confidence in the effectiveness of medical interventions ought to be low" --

Author : Tracy Llanera
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 173 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2020-06-10
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9783030450588

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Richard Rorty: Outgrowing Modern Nihilism by Tracy Llanera Pdf

The book makes a new contribution to the contemporary debates on nihilism and the sacred. Drawing on an original interpretation of Richard Rorty’s writings, it challenges the orthodox treatment of nihilism as a malaise that human beings must overcome. Instead, nihilism should be framed as a problem for human culture to outgrow through pragmatism.

Author : Nick Land
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2002-11-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781134935659

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The Thirst for Annihilation by Nick Land Pdf

An important literary and philosophical figure, Georges Bataille has had a significant influence on other French writers, such as Foucault, Derrida and Baudrillard. The Thirst for Annihilation is the first book in English to respond to Bataille's writings. In no way, though, is Nick Land's book an attempt to appropriate Bataille's writings to a secular intelligibility or to compromise with the aridity of academic discourse - rather, it is written as a communion . Theoretical issues in philosophy, sociology, psychodynamics, politics and poetry are discussed, but only as stepping stones into the deep water of textual sacrifice where words pass over into the broken voice of death. Cultural modernity is diagnosed down to its Kantian bedrock with its transcendental philosophy of the object, but Bataille's writings cut violently across this tightly disciplined reading to reveal the strong underlying currents that bear us towards chaos and dissolution - the violent impulse to escape, the thirst for annihilation.

Author : Conor Cunningham
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 342 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2005-06-29
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781134474004

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Genealogy of Nihilism by Conor Cunningham Pdf

This text re-reads Western history in the light of nihilistic logic, which pervades two millennia of Western thought. From Parmenides to Alain Badiou, via Plotinus, Avicenna, Duns Scotus, Ockham, Descartes, Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, Heidegger, Sartre, Lacan, Deleuze and Derrida, a genealogy of nothingness can be witnessed in development, with devastating consequences for the way we live.

Author : R. Brassier
Publisher : Springer
Page : 275 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2007-11-08
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780230590823

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Nihil Unbound by R. Brassier Pdf

This book pushes nihilism to its ultimate conclusion by linking revisionary naturalism in Anglo-American philosophy with anti-phenomenological realism in French philosophy. Contrary to the 'post-analytic' consensus uniting Heidegger and Wittgenstein against scientism and scepticism, this book links eliminative materialism and speculative realism.

Author : John Foster
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2008-04-24
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780191538063

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A World for Us by John Foster Pdf

A World for Us aims to refute physical realism and establish in its place a form of idealism. Physical realism, in the sense in which John Foster understands it, takes the physical world to be something whose existence is both logically independent of the human mind and metaphysically fundamental. Foster identifies a number of problems for this realist view, but his main objection is that it does not accord the world the requisite empirical immanence. The form of idealism that he tries to establish in its place rejects the realist view in both its aspects. It takes the world to be something whose existence is ultimately constituted by facts about human sensory experience, or by some richer complex of non-physical facts in which such experiential facts centrally feature. Foster calls this phenomenalistic idealism. He tries to establish a specific version of such phenomenalistic idealism, in which the experiential facts that centrally feature in the constitutive creation of the world are ones that concern the organization of human sensory experience. The basic idea of this version is that, in the context of certain other constitutively relevant factors, this sensory organization creates the physical world by disposing things to appear systematically world-wise at the human empirical viewpoint. Chief among these other relevant factors is the role of God as the one who is responsible for the sensory organization and ordains the system of appearance it yields. It is this that gives the idealistically created world its objectivity and allows it to qualify as a real world.

Author : Iddo Landau
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2017-07-01
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780190657680

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Finding Meaning in an Imperfect World by Iddo Landau Pdf

Does life have meaning? Is it possible for life to be meaningful when the world is filled with suffering and when so much depends merely upon chance? Even if there is meaning, is there enough to justify living? These questions are difficult to resolve. There are times in which we face the mundane, the illogically cruel, and the tragic, which leave us to question the value of our lives. However, Iddo Landau argues, our lives often are, or could be made, meaningfulwe've just been setting the bar too high for evaluating what meaning there is. When it comes to meaning in life, Landau explains, we have let perfect become the enemy of the good. We have failed to find life perfectly meaningful, and therefore have failed to see any meaning in our lives. We must attune ourselves to enhancing and appreciating the meaning in our lives, and Landau shows us how to do that. In this warmly written book, rich with examples from the author's life, film, literature, and history, Landau offers new theories and practical advice that awaken us to the meaning already present in our lives and demonstrates how we can enhance it. He confronts prevailing nihilist ideas that undermine our existence, and the questions that dog us no matter what we believe. While exposing the weaknesses of ideas that lead many to despair, he builds a strong case for maintaining more hope. Along the way, he faces provocative questions: Would we choose to live forever if we could? Does death render life meaningless? If we examine it in the context of the immensity of the whole universe, can we consider life meaningful? If we feel empty once we achieve our goals, and the pursuit of these goals is what gives us a sense of meaning, then what can we do? Finding Meaning in an Imperfect World is likely to alter the way you understand your life.

Author : Wendy Syfret
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2022-07-07
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1788167031

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The Sunny Nihilist by Wendy Syfret Pdf

Author : John Foster
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 308 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2002-01-04
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781134731053

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The Immaterial Self by John Foster Pdf

Dualism argues that the mind is more than just the brain. It holds that there exists two very different realms, one mental and the other physical. Both are fundamental and one cannot be reduced to the other - there are minds and there is a physical world. This book examines and defends the most famous dualist account of the mind, the cartesian, which attributes the immaterial contents of the mind to an immaterial self. John Foster's new book exposes the inadequacies of the dominant materialist and reductionist accounts of the mind. In doing so he is in radical conflict with the current philosophical establishment. Ambitious and controversial, The Immaterial Self is the most powerful and effective defence of Cartesian dualism since Descartes' own

Author : Dupont (Monsieur.)
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 276 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Communism
ISBN : OCLC:719995258

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Nihilist Communism by Dupont (Monsieur.) Pdf

Originally self-published in 2003, now edited and designed by Ardent Press, still one of the most hard-nosed books to call the left to account -- with scathing, thoughtful rebuttals to those who continue to believe that the revolution is just a matter of consciousness-raising and recruitment, or that identity politics has anything to do with Marxist thought. Many will reject the materialism inherent in this analysis, but we appreciate the logical consistency (and the occasional brilliance of writing) of Monsieur Dupont; so refreshing in a world in which people withdraw to muddle-headedness in incoherent attempts to fit all topics into some kind of grab bag, attempts seemingly designed to avoid offense rather than to follow ideas through to their logical (or even illogical) conclusions. Unlike so many people who either reject theory all together (rather, who obscure the theory that they work from), or who embrace theory and ignore the ways reality doesn't fit their ideas, Msr Dupont reflected on their experience (and that of others) and changed their theory to suit their lives. We need more people who are willing to be unpopular, who work an idea until it groans, who reflect on real life experiences and then acknowledge the ways in which prevailing theory doesn't make sense, and who are then capable of challenging prevailing theory to be more coherent, more realistic, and more useful. species being could be considered a companion text to Nihilist Communism, or vice versa: reading them together has been helpful for some. Nihilist Communism refers more to specific political occurrences, and species being fleshes out some of the more esoteric ideas.

Author : Nigel Blake,Paul Smeyers,Richard Smith,Paul Standish
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 255 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Education
ISBN : 9781136370045

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Education in an Age of Nihilism by Nigel Blake,Paul Smeyers,Richard Smith,Paul Standish Pdf

This book addresses concerns about educational and moral standards in a world increasingly characterised by nihilism. On the one hand there is widespread anxiety that standards are falling; on the other, new machinery of accountability and inspection to show that they are not. The authors in this book state that we cannot avoid nihilism if we are simply laissez-faire about values, neither can we reduce them to standards of performance, nor must we return to traditional values. They state that we need to create a new set of values based on a critical assessment of contemporary practice in the light of a number of philosophical texts that address the question of nihilism, including the work of Nietzsche.

Author : Slavoj Žižek
Publisher : Verso
Page : 540 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2009-10-19
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781844674299

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In Defense of Lost Causes by Slavoj Žižek Pdf

No Marketing Blurb

Author : David B Wong
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 312 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2009-03-03
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0199724849

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Natural Moralities by David B Wong Pdf

In this book, David B. Wong defends an ambitious and important new version of moral relativism. He does not espouse the type of relativism that says anything goes, but he does start with a relativist stance against alternative theories such that there need not be only one universal truth. Wong proposes that there can be a plurality of true moralities existing across different traditions and cultures, all with one core human question as to how we can all live together.